Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan started including the WNBA in her campaign speeches next year and people responded.

“They would say, ‘That would be great, I would go’,” Kaplan said Friday.

So Kaplan’s campaign for women’s professional basketball has continued even after she took office. She is working to assemble an ownership group willing to bring a team to the Bay Area, and she said is making headway.

“We are having active conversations,” Kaplan said.

Among those discussions have been talks with Oakland’s Oracle Arena, which could potentially serve as a home for the team. Kaplan has also met with WNBA president Donna Orender.

“The fact that there isn’t a team here is almost baffling,” Kaplan said. “There’s such a strong culture of women’s basketball, such a large community to support a team.”

The WNBA has always been interested in the Bay Area. When the teams were tied to NBA franchises, the Warriors were not interested in running a team.

And the league has been back a few times to gauge the interest of potential investor groups through the years, but haven’t been able to strike a deal. The league has asked for a $5 million buy-in at one point.

Kaplan said that amount is “under discussion.”

There’s also the small matter of the Sacramento Monarchs and questions about whether two teams could co-exist in such close geographic quarters.

But Kaplan thinks now may be the time for Oakland.

“We do have people interested,” Kaplan said. “I think it’s not only the right time, but the right place.”